Hi Everybody, We are pleased to announce that in 2020, Michigan will be launching a brand new statewide digital preservation network and community. This comes on the heels of a year-long IMLS planning grant that has been exploring the development of model resources and best practices for launching and sustaining distributed digital preservation networks. Throughout 2019, the Statewide & Regional Stepping Stones to the National Digital Platform Project (https://www.gvsu.edu/library/stepping-stones-68.htm) in Michigan has worked in lock-step with our State Library, the regional Midwest Collaborative for Library Services, the Michigan Museums Association, the Michigan Archival Association, and the Michigan Academic Library Alliance to explore, pilot, and develop a package of helpful governance resources, policy tools, and a collaboration toolkit. The project staff have additionally traveled throughout the country to gather helpful data and lessons-learned from an array of existing and up-and-coming networks. Our goal has been to provide institutions with a flexible and adaptable roadmap for accomplishing incremental digital preservation on local scales in collaboration with trusted peers. As we enter the final month and weeks of the project we want to invite institutions, organizations, and practitioners who share an interest in exploring the launch of similar networks and communities to review our resources and provide us with comments, suggestions, and questions. Any and all feedback can be helpful in ensuring that these new resources can have an impact both in Michigan and beyond for advancing digital preservation on state/regional levels. Visit https://gvsu.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_1LdVE6d5vuQQ7iZ and sign-up today to work with us. We'll be in touch throughout the remainder of November/December 2019 to share our draft resources and gather some critical feedback from you. The resources will launch alongside of the new Michigan network in January 2020, and we will aim to host/foster symposia and meetups throughout the year and into 2021 to support additional future launches. All best, Matt Schultz Metadata & Digital Curation Librarian Grand Valley State University Libraries schultzm@gvsu.edu<mailto:schultzm@gvsu.edu> 616-331-5072